Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-01-20

sum of individual effort; the personal
effort of every citizen. The worth and
strength of a nation depend upon the
individuals comprising it. The I'm.
PARALLEL growth of our own notion is
due to personal exertion; the honesty
OF Washington, the eloquence of
{ Patrick Henry. the patriotism Of
Hamilton, and the sagacity of Franklin
are but some of the representatives of
the individuals who compose the coun-
ellis that decided the destinies of the
nation. Franklin was sought and
heard in the courts Of both continents.
When the United States seemed on
the eve of dissolution, the voice Of
Clay stilled the contending factions.
The glory of America consists not so
much in her rigid laws as in her con
ditions for individual growth, and the
stimuli she furnishes for independent
effort. With her, liberty rests upon
individual character; in which respects
America furnishes strong contrast to
the early republic of Greece and Rome.
They knew not individual liberty and
responsibility. The State was their
God, and life's efforts were blindly
sacrificed upon it's alter. When by
virtue and intelligence a Grecian poll
tician had acquil ed influence, he was
ostracised, and sent to end his days in
exile, lest he should become dangerous
Every nation becomes stationary
when it ceases to encourage personal
effort. Turn your attention to China,
over which centuries have come and
gone with scarcely sign of improve
ment. The castles of society are always
of the same mold; their desires and ca
pacities are starved: native pleasures
are dead; custom reigns supreme, and
to it justice and right must conform.
But from fixed and unprogressive
China turn to England and America,
where individual energy finds well
come field England has felt the i'm
pulls Of their Pitts and Burkes in
every part of the nation; Wilber-
force, after a forty fve-year struggle
triumphed in witnessing every rem
nant of slavery abolished under the
British flag; Howard has demonstrate
ed that by individual effort even
prison convicts can be elevated to
nobleness, and the crime of the world
le5soned. What is it that has brought
Europe out of the dark ages but indi-
vidual perseverance? Nothing is
truer than that individuals have always
been at the helm Of the American
nation. Patrick Henry's reso.ute
appeal for liberty stirred whole ma
ton to action. Webster, by his ire
sistible powers Of debate and his
matchless eloquence, held together,
for time at least, the belligerent
States of the Union Slavery, that
criminal blot upon our record, was
removed almost wholly by individual
effort. Lincoln and Summer now lie
cold and motionless, but their efforts
will live as long as the black man
loves freedom. They poured the
strength of their whole lives into the
cause of liberty, their hopes famed
by the success Of every perseveriug
effort, until they saw the sun shine on
the broken shackles of five million
souls. The individual patriotism of
John Brown started the song of free
dom, and millions Of hearts to beat in
sympathy with men under the lash.
Strip the race Of the strongly mark
ed characteristics, and there will be
but little left of culture and civiliza-
ton. The progress Of the race
demands bold individual men, who
will asse TT the truth and stand by it
undinchingly-for men a0iU slay their
own prophets and liberators. In proud
ignorance they will execute Socrates;
drag Gallileo to the. inquisitlon, and
send Savanarola to the scatfold.
The brutal hand of jealousy will send
a Lincoln to his grave without remorse,
in the very hour of his triumph-a
martyr to a nations progress. Truth
has always had it's martyrs, and such
is the ordeal through which it must
pass. We are yet in the twilight of
progress Mans highest intellectual
and spiritual fields lie far beyond the
limits of his present horizon; yet
surely through the individual alone
| will no attain tham